After two minutes of swinging her mighty axe, he saw her chest heaving mightily. She looked like she was swinging her axe through a vat of molasses. Estelar put very little effort into dodging her attacks.
The dwarf woman growled and lifted her axe over her head. She took two heavy steps forward and swung down where the elf was standing. Estelar leapt forward and to the side, landing right beside her. He threw out a fist and punched her in the jaw. She staggered back and dropped her axe.
Estelar followed up with a number of punches. The elf threw up her strong arms to defend herself, but her defenses were weakened in her winded state. Several strikes got through and she found herself on her back. The elf walked up to her and pointed his sword at her throat.
Estelar looked down at the woman. Her beautiful eyes teared up. He found himself momentarily lost in them. They held all the splendor of a morning sunrise and a setting sun over a sparkling lake. She screwed her eyes shut and offered her neck.
The elf remembered an old movie about an assassin he saw one time. One of the characters told the assassin never to look into his mark’s eyes. It would affect him in ways he wouldn’t like. He held his sword over her throat for several seconds, trying to plunge it in and finish the deed. He’d done this a million times. Why was he having trouble now?
He couldn’t push his sword forward. An invisible barrier had placed itself between the tip of his blade and her neck. It was so easy to end this. Push the sword forward, plunge it into her unprotected flesh, but a twisting ache in his stomach held his sword aloft.
“Why don’t you do it you ass. Just kill me,” the dwarf’s voice was strained.
Estelar only stood, his sword stationary.
“This game is hell. I’ve already died five times. Do it already.”
This game was hell. He remembered running around killing weak mobs for a few coppers. Unexplored didn’t reward the weak. It only liked to dole riches out to the powerful and ruthless. A two ton brick was tied around his heart. He stood there for several more seconds when he realized that he couldn’t kill this dwarf.
Estelar lowered his sword and sighed. “I’m not going to kill you.”
The dwarf opened her eyes. “What?”
“I said I’m not going to kill you,” Estelar growled.
The woman’s face screwed up in confusion. “Why?”
“I just don’t feel like it.”
The dwarf gritted her teeth. “What’s the matter, don’t think I’m worth your time?”
“Oh, you are, make no mistake. I could kill you. It’s my job to kill you.”
“Then why don’t you do it?”
“Because I - it’s also my job to leave some people alive. Don’t know why, it just is.”
“That sounds kind of stupid.”
“It is, but I’m sure as hell not going to tell my guild master that.”
“Why does your guildmaster want you to leave people alive?”
The elf huffed. “Look, don’t question your gift. I’m leaving you alive.”
Estelar reached into the purse and dropped a few coins on the ground.
“There’s some money. Go to Caspadel and get yourself a couple of drinks or something. I don’t care. Just play dead until my friends and I leave. If you stay on the main road, you shouldn’t be attacked by mobs.”
The dwarf looked at the coins on the ground. “Woah, there’s some gold in there.”
“Yeah, you can get smashed a billion times over if good mead is you want.”
The dwarf looked up at him with her pretty golden eyes. “Thank you.”
“Would you play dead already before my friends see you?”
The dwarf gathered up the coins and quickly dropped to the ground.
The elf turned his back and took two steps away.
“What’s your name?” he heard the dwarf say.
He knew he shouldn’t give out his name. If she told the authorities in Caspadel they’d easily be able to track him. However, an unexplained weakness came over him.
“Estelar,” the elf said. “Now shut up.”
The dwarf did what he said and lay still.
When Estelar returned to his friends they finished their attack. Only two of the caravaneers remained, unarmed merchants that cowered in the back of one of the wagons. They gathered as much loot as they could from the wagons, took the extra horses and rode away.
Estelar was worried that one of his friends would discover the guard he left alive. None of them did. They never checked the bodies to make sure their enemies were dead. It still didn’t keep the elf from worrying though.
When all of their sacks were filled with valuables they rode away. Estelar looked over his shoulder and saw the dwarf. The woman looked up at him and gave him a quick thumbs up. Mixed feelings circulated through his stomach.
NINETEEN
Paul sat at his desk and stared at the holoscreen. After he returned to the guild house he passed on the usual after raid orgy and logged out. He’d been surfing the net for the past hour. He told himself he wanted to see if he could find any useful information on Unexplored, but he’d spent most of his time looking up funny memes.
He loved making memes and thought about creating a few, but tonight he wasn’t into it. He thought about going out and treating himself to something nice to dinner, but he wasn’t up to that either. He just sat in front of his computer, staring at the screen, thinking about nothing in particular as he opened more links to look at other memes.
A small blue window popped up in front of him. On the left side was a small cartoon icon of a stubby female dwarf with dark hair. A massive axe was tossed nonchalantly over her shoulders.
“Meaddrinker972: Hey.” appeared in a speech bubble beside the drawing.
Paul’s brow furrowed. What the hell was this? Was this some kind of spambot or something? A title at top of the window read “Unexplored Chat.” He looked at the little cartoon again and he remembered the raid.
Estelar: Hey, are you that dwarf girl?
Paul didn’t know what his screen name would be. It didn’t surprise him that it just said his character name. Maybe he could change it in the settings, but at the moment he didn’t feel inclined to.
Meaddrinker972: Yeah, I’m that dwarf whose ass you kicked.
Paul was surprised. Why was she contacting him? How did she get his information? He didn’t even know Unexplored had a chat function outside of the game. He guessed, given how exciting all of the other game features were, the developers weren’t too bothered by mentioning such a mundane feature.
Estelar: How did you get my contact info?
Meaddrinker972: I just looked you up using the database. When I logged out, I used your location in the game and your name and it popped up. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to find you.
Estelar: What can I do for you?
Meaddrinker972: I didn’t want anything in particular. I just wanted to say thank you. You’re the first person in this game that’s ever been nice to me.
Estelar: Really? That’s kind of sad. Then again, Unexplored seems to be really cut throat.
Meaddrinker972: I know. I had one demon person cut me in half just because I said hello.
Estelar: Christ! You must have caught the guy in a bad mood.
Meaddrinker972: I thought so too, but everyone seems to be hostile. I tried hooking up with a few parties but nobody wanted a newb along.
Estelar: The game has only been out for a few days, we’re all noobs!
Meaddrinker972: Most of us are. There were some people involved in the game’s beta test. They’ve been around for a while so they’ve had the chance to get strong.
Paul thought to his guild master. Larkin seemed to have a great deal more skill than anyone else he ran into in the game. Maybe that would explain his level of power.
Estelar: I know a guy like that. He runs my guild. One nasty motherfucker. He took out a village of goblins almost single handedly.
Meaddrinker972: A lot of th
e beta players are. They’re the ones that have big castles and a bunch of dough. They all strut around like they’re Gods. They are Gods, compared to us. I don’t even know how we’re supposed to compete with them.
Estelar: We can’t. The best we can hope for is to join up with them on their quests to become more powerful than they already are.
Meaddrinker972: That kind of sucks. Who in their right mind would make a game like this?
Estelar: A sadist?
Meaddrinker972: Pfff. Even sadists have a heart. This game is a work of pure evil.
Estelar: Maybe that’s part of the challenge. There might be “unexplored” avenues to power we haven’t discovered.
Paul chuckled at his own pun. He always loved silly jokes.
Meaddrinker972: Oh ha ha XP. Maybe you’re right, though. I’ve been thinking about getting into something else. You gave me a bunch of money. I thought about buying some herbs and taking up alchemy. There’s an NPC alchemist in town that gives lessons.
Estelar: That sounds pretty cool.
Meaddrinker972: If that fails I guess I can go back to questing in this sadistic game. It’ll be hard but I’m a masochist. I always love a good challenge.
Estelar: Masochism is always fun, but I’m preferential to the other end of that spectrum.
Meaddrinker972: I thought I pegged you as a sadist. That wicked leather armor you wore gave it away.
Estelar: I also have a nice collections of whips and chains. Some people like to hide who they are, however I find it more refreshing to wear your true colors out in the open.
Meaddrinker972: I don’t mind. Besides, my dwarf can take quite a beating ;)
Paul’s eyes went wide. He knew she was going along with the joke, but the statement brought exciting images of the female dwarf in leather, bound while his elf character did many things to her that Paul found unbearably exciting.
Estelar: Haha, well, perhaps I will have to exercise my sadistic side on you at some point.
Meaddrinker972: Perhaps you will. ;) Anyway, I have to go. Just wanted to say thanks for not being a jerk.
Estelar: No problem. What is your name, in game I mean?
Meaddrinker972: Fonwilsia. I hope we run into each other again. Take care.
The blue screen blipped off of his holoscreen monitor. Paul sat hunched over in his desk chair. An uncomfortable amalgamation of feelings whirled through his stomach again.
TWENTY
Estelar and his group of friends sat in the guild master’s meeting room. They’d been summoned after they each logged on for the afternoon. Larkin entered. The aura about him was a bit more frigid than before. The cold sank into the skin and struck the very bones of those in the room. Gooseflesh erupted on the elf’s arms. He rubbed them, hoping to create some heat, but nothing he did staved off the cold.
Larkin’s eyes were darker, almost black. The unnerving fright his pupils instilled in those he looked at was worse than the aura of cold that radiated from him. He smiled at the other occupants of the room. His teeth were dagger-like and held the sickening shine of an executioner's axe.
“Good evening everyone. I don’t have to tell you how proud I am of you all. You’ve been doing a fantastic job working the road to Caspadel, and have brought great wealth and more new members to the guild. I expanded the other teams of highwaymen, and using similar tactics to yours, they’ve also brought in some coin. However, their accomplishments pale in comparison to your own, and that’s why I’ve chosen you for a special task.
“Our guild has started recruiting from some of the players based in Shumpet. From them, I want to put together a team of bandits to attack another trade caravan on the road to Caspadel.”
“Larkin, I don’t mean to be rude,” Padwin said, “but why are you having us put together another team? Aren’t we doing a good job?”
“You are, but I have something entirely different in mind. I am going to have you set up a team of bandits and have them attack the caravan, preferably one that’s not well guarded. During the attack, I want you to attack the bandit team.”
Estelar cocked an eyebrow. “That seems a bit odd.”
Larkin turned a cold glare at the elf. “My plans are very well thought out and carefully crafted. This is just another step in a long project that I’ve been undertaking since I started this guild. Do not write my plans off as odd until you completely understand them.”
Estelar remembered the goblin chief hanging by a noose in his own hut and shuddered. “Sorry.”
Larkin nodded. “When you attack the bandit team, I want you to tell the leader of the caravan who you are and tell him to inform the duke of the city of what happened. Can you manage that?”
Everyone else in the group nodded.
“Good. I’m going to send you to a secret place out in the woods where the interviews will occur. I want you each to pick the two worst possible candidates for the team. Special emphasis should be placed on those that are new players or are exceptionally stupid. I’ll give you further instructions after you’ve chosen your candidates.”
Everyone nodded again and were released to begin their mission.
TWENTY-ONE
Estelar sat on a small stool in a little wooden house out in the middle of the woods a couple of miles outside of Shumpet. When his group arrived, a congregation of shadowy figures, fifty in total, were outside waiting for them. They said they received a message from a cloaked figure about the opportunity to take part in a “wealth reappropriation opportunity” that required players of “questionable repute.”
All of the players waiting for them did their best to remain inconspicuous when his party rode up, though how such a large congregation of people could remain innocuous was beyond the elf. The site that they met at was in an area of the game not frequently visited by other players, so the odds of not sticking out like a sore thumb were slim.
Larkin instructed the group to wear disguises in order not to be noticed by the newcomers. The elf chose an ugly chartreuse robe to wear over his armor and a dark brown mask. Estelar wasn’t sure why so much emphasis was being placed on secrecy, but he knew better than to question the guild master’s desires.
Each member of Estelar’s party took ten of the potential candidates and interviewed them. From the people he’d interviewed thus far, it was clear that the Crimson Warriors took the utmost care to select the most moronic players for this quest.
Estelar spent most of the last two hours talking to nine different candidates about the most inane things that had little to do with robbery or anything close to shady dealings. The darkest subject touched on was how a player shoplifted a mug from a Hobby House in real life. The player made sure to emphasise how real his dastardly deed was.
His number one choice, and probably the strangest and most dull-witted of the bunch thus far, was a warrior who had a strange fascination with his mother and model trains.
There was a knock on the door and the elf sighed.
“Just one more,” he mumbled to himself.
He called the person in and in walked a woman in a black halter top and short shorts that tightly hugged her curves. Black cat ears flicked in her mane of raven black hair.
She stroked the black fur on the back of her arms and smiled at him. Her petite features and high cheekbones made her face very alluring.
“Hello,” she said, her voice was bubbly, “I’m Berryl, the cute and cuddly cat girl, nice to meet you.”
She quickly thrust her right hand at Estelar and he jolted back on his stool. He took it and nodded.
“It’s nice to meet you Berryl. Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to disclose my name.”
“Oh,” Berryl’s eyes went wide. “Are you a ninja, because that would be so cool.”
Estelar snorted. “No, I’m not a ninja. My employer has asked me to keep my identity secret.”
“Okay. Well, I’m a ninja, a cute cuddly kitty cat ninja. I’ll hack you to bits, but I’ll be so adorable while I’m doing it.”
“Yes, I drew some really mean pictures on the hideout of some thugs who attacked me once.”
“Not that kind of art, I mean things like robbery.”
“Oh yeah, I steal stuff all the time. Once, I stole all of the herbs from this herbalist that was rude to me. Then I put all the little herbs in different bottles. You should have seen some of the crazy potions he ended up making. One made this girl grow tentacles. She really liked them, too.”
“I’m sure. Anything else?”
“One time the lord of this city made fun of me for walking up to people and meowing. So at night, I snuck into his house, stole all of his clothes and sold them to a merchant. I used the money to hire some really big male prostitutes to go into his house and have sex with him.”
Estelar’s eyebrows shot up. “How did that turn out?”
“Nothing dirty happened. I snuck the guys in and they told the lord what they were there for. He jumped out of bed, fully nude and tried to put on some clothes but they were all gone. The guys chased him out of the house and into the street while he was still naked.” The catgirl laughed. “It was awesome.”
Estelar chuckled. Guess that lord wouldn’t make fun of her again.
“Anything else?”
The catgirl tapped her chin. “Well…”
Berryl went on for twenty minutes telling Estelar of her exploits. Each story seemed crazier than the last. The elf stopped her after a story involving her giving a player a magical laxative after he wouldn’t stop pulling her tail.
“Okay, that’ll do,” Estelar said.
“But I haven’t told you the best part, when he went to the bathroom -”
“Please, no.”
The cat girl’s ears drooped. “Aww, okay. Well I hope I got the job. I always wanted to work with another ninja. See you.”
Unexplored - Rise of the Crimson Kingdom Page 10